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| 1854 in the united states | |
| battles involving the sioux | |
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In the late summer of 1854 , about 4,000 Brulé and Oglala were camped near Fort Laramie in accordance with the terms of an earlier peace treaty. On August 17 a Cow belonging to a Mormon traveling on the nearby Oregon Trail wandered into the Lakota camp and was killed. Second lieutenant John L. Grattan , a recent graduate of West Point , was ordered to bring in the guilty Lakota cow killer. Grattan was an inexperienced, short-tempered young man openly contemptuous of the Lakota's ability as warriors and who was looking to prove himself. A commander at Laramie later recalled "There is no doubt that Lt. Grattan left this post with a desire to have a fight with the Indians, and that he had determined to take the man at all hazards." In front of the Brulé chief Conquering Bear , Grattan insisted on taking the guilty party in to custody. Conquering Bear understood the nature of the situation and tried to negotiate, but Grattan continued to escalate tensions. When Conquering Bear stood up, he was shot in the back and killed. This started a volley of fire from both sides; Grattan and all of his men were killed. This event was called the "Grattan Massacre" by the U.S. media as part of a campaign to stir up anti-Indian sentiment. News of the massacre reached the War Department and plans were put in to motion for retaliation. William S. Harney was recalled from Paris and sent to Fort Kearny , where he was put in command of elements of his own 2nd Mounted Dragoons . They set out on August 24 , 1855 to find and exact payment on the Sioux. This then lead to the Battle Of Ash Hollow (also known as the Battle of Bluewater Creek) on September 3 , 1855 , in which US soldiers killed a number of Brulé Sioux in present-day Garden County , Nebraska . |
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